This invention relates to a golf ball teeing device that is fully automatic and portable. The device is a complete self-contained unit consisting of a base, a hopper, tubes to transmit the ball to a tee, an automatic release of one ball at a time and a tee pad with an integral tee.
When a golfer is practicing hitting a golf ball, he may want to hit numerous balls at one practice session and the requirement to place a ball on a tee over and over again becomes tedious and in many cases a strain on the golfer's back. The purpose of this invention is to provide a device to make teeing of the golf ball easier and faster.
Prior art devices can be divided into two types. One type is where the device is partly or completely below ground level and accordingly permanently installed at driving ranges. The other type operates entirely above ground and can be portable. This device is concerned with the above ground portable type.
Golf has been played for over 500 years but even today a reliable and portable automatic golf tee is not available. One can visit hundreds of golf driving ranges, both indoor and outdoor, and not see one automatic tee in use. Looking in many leading monthly distributed national golf magazines, you will find advertising for every golf gimmick, accessory and training aid imaginable but you will not find any automatic golf tee advertised. There are very few automatic and portable golf tee devices on the market to-day and the problems associated with them over the years are numerous as follows:
not completely automatic (you must make a separate motion to operate a lever or a switch to make the golf ball go to the tee before every drive). PA1 not easily portable (too heavy and cumbersome to move around frequently). PA1 actual tee is not included (the tee from which the ball is actually driven, is omitted and therefore you must place a tee in the ground yourself or place the device near a fixed tee at the driving range). PA1 electric power is required (the unit is more expensive and only useful in proximity to a power supply and can't be used on driving range grass areas). PA1 battery power is required (it is expensive to replace batteries and just when you want to use the unit, the batteries will likely be dead). PA1 actual tee support is fragile (after some use, the support holding the tee could be damaged since it is not likely protected from errant swings below the bottom of the ball). PA1 only a small quantity of balls can be placed in the unit (units are usually built only vertically and would be too high to carry around if they held approximately more than 50 balls). PA1 too complicated (parts are too numerous and of special construction to economically manufacture a unit for the consumer). PA1 balls clog in the hopper (the golfer will have to stop his practice to get the balls free and this may happen frequently at one practice).
Similar devices on the market to-day will likely have one or more of the previously described problems. The most prevalent problem is likely the clogging of the hopper. If golf balls come in contact with each other either from the side or directly on top and are against a fixed object such as a hopper wall or floor (even if they are sloped), the balls will clog due to their indentations wedging into each other. This is such a problem that most patents do not address it since they do not have a suitable solution and they just have a drawing showing a hopper outline but do not elaborate.
The device described herein overcomes all of the previously described problems and results in a reliable unit.